Ever since manufacturers first discovered
the keyword gaming,
it feels like we've been on a bit of a slippery slope here.
You see, at first gaming was used primarily
to describe products endorsed by professional gamers
or that had features that were somehow directly related
to their gaming utility, like headsets
with noise canceling microphones, for example.
But then came gaming power supplies, gaming chairs,
and gaming computer memory,
none of which perform measurably better
than their similarly priced non-gaming counterparts.
So where does this path ultimately lead us?
To here, today, in this moment,
to the epitome of bull
gaming marketing,
the gaming micro SD card from HyperX.
Today's video is brought to you by Thermaltake.
Thermaltake's gaming level 20 cases
feature radiator mounting for water cooling,
gaming-focused aesthetics,
and beautiful tempered glass panels.
Check them out at the link below.
Let's begin with an entirely unironic read
of the press release.
The HyperX gaming micro SD card
is an ideal storage solution for gamers
who love downloadable content.
Where are they finding these people?
And downloadable games,
but don't want to buy multiple cards
and deal with long load times.
This card features read speeds of 100 megabytes per second
and write speeds of 80 megabytes per second
and capacities up to 256 gaming bytes.
So you'll get fast access to your games
and you can download to your heart's content.
HyperX's senior manager for console business said that,
our goal was to bring reliable high capacity
and plug and play storage to mobile gamers.
And HyperX is excited to make that happen.
Alrighty then.
So as usual, there's not a word about exactly
what makes these cards gaming.
And the only performance claims are asterisked
as per the tradition.
So let's start then by exploring
just how they came to those numbers.
We hooked up the 256 gig version to a USB three port
on our Z370 test bench via a Kingston card reader
and ran CrystalDiskMark,
which is what the HyperX rep told us
that they used for their performance claims.
Now our results fell well short
of the 100 read 80 write claims
coming in at 88.7 megs on sequential reads
and 66.3 on writes.
And then when we sanity checked these results
with a sequential file transfer,
we ended up with very similar results.
Now the disclaimer does say the speed may vary
due to host hardware, software and usage.
So digging for the truth,
we tested the card again in all four major platforms.
As you can see, when paired with an X290,
we actually came extremely close to the stated claims
with X470 coming in at a close second.
All right, fair enough then HyperX.
Now we move on to our real world testing,
mobile game loading time, excuse me,
mobile game loading times, starting with Android.
So we used a Razer gaming phone
and PUBG mobile version 0.8.0 to determine how long it took
from tapping the icon to reaching the login screen.
And believe it or not,
the gaming card actually managed to match
our onboard storage on the phone,
which I guess kind of makes sense
given that it's got the fancy new A1 speed rating,
which is a newfangled way of saying
that it'll handle the random IO necessary to run apps
better than traditional SD cards,
which are rated only for sequential read and write speeds.
Which I guess brings us perfectly to our next challenger,
our non-gaming high capacity,
512 gig card from Integral.
This puppy is rated at 80 megabytes per second read speeds.
So not that different, but it spat out a,
this card is slow warning when we first formatted it.
And on its first run,
it got absolutely stomped by HyperX's gaming card.
Gaming, sorry.
So at this point,
things were actually looking pretty darn good
for the world's first gaming micro SD card.
Or that was until we followed up the test
with a couple more rounds of game launches
and the issues with our Integral card disappeared,
never to be seen again.
So after that first launch anomaly,
our gaming card is faster,
but only by about 8% or three seconds
to put that in real world terms.
Okay, well, HyperX's marketing
barely even mentions phones anyway.
So let's move on to our next test device,
the Nintendo Switch,
running the Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild.
And in a massive surprise to no one,
just like with our smartphone testing,
the results came in only marginally different
with the Switch's onboard storage being the fastest,
no solution achieving a drastic experience altering
performance delta over any of the others.
So what's left to say then?
This is a perfectly good micro SD card
with a lifetime warranty from a reputable company,
that will probably still exist in the time
that you'd actually want any warranty service on this.
So we are not saying not to buy this thing.
We're just saying that there's nothing about it
that seems to be any more gaming
than the socks and sandals that I'm wearing right now.
And that the main takeaway today
is that regardless of what SD card you choose,
the experience is unlikely to be dramatically different.
That is, unless you're the kind of person
who gets off on,
sitting next to people with cheaper SD cards on the bus
and opening up the same programs as them,
then gloating about your loading times
for three glorious seconds
before they are sitting in exactly the same staging area,
waiting to get on exactly the same parachute bus.
Speaking of gaming,
Mastro is featuring some gaming peripherals.
They've teamed up with Creative
and are now selling their mouse
and keyboard at 50% off the retail price.
So we've got the Vanguard K08 keyboard,
which uses Omron mechanical switches.
It's got 109 customizable RGB keys.
Those are gaming.
And it includes dedicated macro keys.
It's got one of those nice roller wheel volume controls
and media keys and a removable wrist rest.
Then we've got the Siege M04 mouse.
It has seven fully programmable buttons.
It's got a PWM 3360 IR LED gaming grade sensor,
which actually, that does work.
That does matter.
Having a good mouse for gaming is important.
And it runs anywhere from 200 to 12,000 DPI.
So check out the links below to grab yourself a new mouse
and a new keyboard for gaming.
So thanks guys for watching.
If you disliked this gaming video, you can hit that button.
But if you liked it, hit like, get subscribed,
or maybe consider checking out where to buy this gaming stuff
we featured at the link in the video description.
Also down there is our merch store, which has cool gaming.
Shirts like this one.
And our community gaming forum,
which you should totally join.
For gaming discussion.
I see, I thought that joke was gonna get old,
but it never did.